Hi guys, this is my very first time creating a thread here so any suggestions or criticism are very much appreciated.
I'm not aiming for building a beautiful & expensive rig here since I'm not a pro modder as many sifus here & I'm building on budget.
This build is gonna take quite some time to finish due to time constrains in which I will mod only on selected weekend.
My plan is to modify an old & obsolete Lian Li PC-V600 mainly for water-cooling.
Water-cooling itself is considered overkill to me for my current PC specs plus I only use my PC to surf this forum & facebook
Just wanna have fun building a PC on my own way of customization.
As the title suggests, 'Simpa' (simple), I'll keep this project as simple as possible, minimizing damage & error and finish-able.
Okay, let's start.


Hardware specifications:

Processor: Intel Xeon E5 2660
Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Gene
RAM: Corsair Value Select 4 GB (temporarily doing dual channel on the Asus board)
SSD: Intel X25-M 160GB G2
Hard drive: Hitachi Ultrastar 1 TB
Video card: Sapphire HD6870 > changing to other card, still deciding
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W
ODD: No plan so far

Cooling Components:

CPU waterblock: XSPC Rasa waterblock > changed to EK Supreme HF Nickel-Acetal
GPU waterblock: None so far
Pump, top: Koolance PMP-450S, COV-RP450 with reservoir > reservoir changed to Bitspower Water Tank Z-Multi 250 POM version
Radiator: HW Labs Black Ice GTX 240 & GTS 360
Fans: Some of generic 120mm fans, Sanyo Denki 120mm x 38mm (might change later)
Fitting: Bitspower compression 7/16" 5/8" silver shining
Tubing: Primochill Primoflex Advanced LRT Onyx Black

This post has been edited by imnovice: Dec 17 2014, 10:53 AM

Meet the victim


3D view of the case


Side view. A windowed side panel is a must? Okay, I'll do something with it


Side panel mesh. I'll reuse it


A quick look at the case's internals


Side panel opened

This post has been edited by imnovice: Jun 3 2014, 03:36 PM

Nice to see a fellow Xeon user modding. Can't wait to see it finished.

good luck ts, all the best

@Lucassss & najmul, thx guys


Pop that rivet up!


5.25" drive bay & hard drive cage dismantled


Stripped it down & ideas started to come. Put this here, put this there


Just another view

As a start, I'll settle the top part of the case 1st for fixing a 360mm radiator. I'm still waiting for the radiator & some other materials to arrive. A test fit for the radiator is needed, to be safe. I hope I can do something during this coming weekend. Stay tuned

This post has been edited by imnovice: Jun 3 2014, 03:37 PM

Can't wait to see the final product!

any update? hm

Small update

Sorry guys for not being able to update anything for the past weeks. I've received my 360mm radiator recently & done test fit for some of major components inside the case. I choose to rotate the the case 90 degree instead of existing layout. Thinking of cutting the motherboard tray to fit mATX motherboard only to gain more space so that I will be able to add another 120mm fan beside the processor. Test fit still in progress however to get the best placement of those components.



Test fit for major components



Uncompleted not-so-nice scketchup just for imagining how should I work on

This post has been edited by imnovice: Jun 3 2014, 03:38 PM

Progress


The ATX motherboard tray to be transformed to micro ATX


Making holes for cable management


Holes done

Trying with 24-pins connector


Initial plan for motherboard tray


Bending them


Bending done but I don't like it


This looks better

This post has been edited by imnovice: Jun 3 2014, 03:39 PM

Initial plan for PSU placement. Marked for cutting


Cutting the PSU opening


Cutting done but the outcome was bad. This cutting method is faster but needs to be done properly


I cannot fully cover this opening with the PSU bracket so I'm going to redo it


Additionally I realized that I could make use of the gap between PSU and chassis' base. I'm going to readjust the PSU placement later because...


I need to make the base first. This is originally the chassis' backplane. Marked for cutting


Cutting done

This post has been edited by imnovice: Jun 3 2014, 03:41 PM

This aluminum sheet will be the chassis' base. Marked


I made this simple guider to help me making straight cut


Cutting the 2mm thick of aluminum. Much faster than rotary tool although the best is to get a jigsaw


Fitted nicely


Just another view

This post has been edited by imnovice: Jun 3 2014, 03:42 PM

Trying the motherboard tray placement before marking


Marked for cutting


Cutting done


Trimming it


Aligning the tray


Riveting it


The tray safely in place

This post has been edited by imnovice: Jun 3 2014, 03:43 PM

Redoing the PSU opening. Marked for cutting


Cutting done


The new PSU opening


Aluminum plate installed


This thing will act as spacer between PSU and chassis' backplane


My second cutting disk for this project before I accidentally cut my finger with it. I need a glove!

This post has been edited by imnovice: Jun 3 2014, 03:44 PM

Great job man! envy ur skills. wish i have more time, money and space to mod like u! hahaha

Thanks brother but I only mod in very limited space, just those pictures didn't show lol

Small update. I've had some time to work on the PSU bracket yesterday.


Material used


Screwed in those square aluminum log


PSU vent interface. Marked for cutting


Test fit & how it should sit in the chassis


Test fit with real PSU


Cutting done with real PSU installed


Finished product & installed on the chassis

This post has been edited by imnovice: Jun 3 2014, 03:46 PM

Good morning. Another small progress from me. I've done the fans' blow hole for backplane. Check these pictures out:


Planning for correct fans & radiator placement. Clearance between radiator, side panel & display card are critical here


Fan's blow hole done


Just another view


The San Ace fan tapped with M5


Test fit of those fans with radiator


Final look of the backplane


With most of major components in place

Another major thing to do is 360mm radiator mounting which would be my next job. Stay tuned

This post has been edited by imnovice: Jun 3 2014, 03:47 PM

what a nice clean cut for the fan hole. can share with me how you cut it?
Is it using holesaw?

Hi, I used palm router to do it. Sorry for no photo snapped because things happened pretty fast.

This 2mm thick aluminum sheet will be holding front 360mm radiator


I've decided to cut this chassis' structure to allow for easy installation of front radiator


Test fit of the plate


The plate will be screwed on this metal thing


Marked for riveting


Tapped it with M3


Safely in place

Marking for radiator's hole


Drilled 12 fans screw holes with router's start/escape hole


This fan's frame will be template for making fan's holes


Cutting process in progress


First & second hole done


This is just too much for an in-room modding


Fan's holes done


Test fit with actual radiator. So far so good


This is just to see how it looked like with motherboard & display card installed

Bye bye to this side panel. I'm gonna use it as top cover of the case


The original side panel's mesh opening used as template to duplicate it onto top cover sheet


I cut this to get better airflow


Finished top panel with mesh applied on top with dunlop glue & clamped for drying


Finished top panel


Hole for power switch

moar~ moar~

Hi, it's been a while since my last update. Hardly had time for modding but progress ran slowly in background. Here are couple of pictures as a small update.


Test fit with Black Ice GTS 360mm radiator & Sanyo Denki 38mm thick fan revealed a clearance issue with the front panel


Marked this side metal part for cutting it & allowing easy slot-in of the radiator panel


The existing rivet will go after cutting so I replaced it with another one


Cutting done with rotary tool


With radiator & fans slotted-in. Very limited space left between the radiator & front panel. Initially planned to make fan opening at the front panel as intake but I changed my mind to make side intake instead since lack of material & to reduce noise

This post has been edited by imnovice: Jul 11 2014, 06:17 AM

Work continued with one of the side panel (motherboard side)


I chose to use M3 screw for fixing the panel. This is to mark where should I drill their holes


12 holes done. Need to work harder to open the side panel for maintenance later hehe


Opening made for air intake


Installing metal mesh on the intake hole


The glue I used


Glue applied


Finished product. The joint between 2 meshes looks kinda ugly, I'll cover it with sticker later. Please ignore it


Appearance test

Hi,
Where you buy the mesh metal? I try find at hardware. non of them sell it.

Hi, I used mesh taken from notebook cooler. Some of notebook coolers quite cheap, you can just buy it and take out its mesh without regret.

Creative way

Wow..luckily I came accross this thread..!!
very creative modding by TS..
waiting for update..MOARRR~~!!

btw, i'm pin this thread fo future reference

Cheap way summore

Thanks bro but nothing much I've done, just cut here & there

Small update here guys, I've painted the internal of the chassis black.


Simple painting job done without primer. Quality is okey okey only but I'm okey with it


Can't wait to start hardware installation!

Hi, it'd been 2 months without update. I wish to share a picture or two here.


I installed the motherboard & PSU to see how should I put the 360mm radiator & Sanyo Denki fans in. Initial plan was to go with [front panel>rad>fan>rad plate] configuration but with those thick 38mm fans, there was no enough space for better airflow to enter the radiator. It could be worse with fan filter put in. This [front panel>rad>rad plate>fan] configuration is the best I found so far.


Side view. Note that the fans are covering small part of motherboard area, preventing me from putting long video card in the 1st pci-e slot. I've sold my HD 6870 to get other card which I've not yet decided


Another view. The absence of GTX240 radiator gives more space inside. I'll probably skip from using it at the moment or change to a thinner radiator.

That's all for this time. My next tasks is to figure out how to put that bulky pump & hard drive in. Thanks for viewing!

This post has been edited by imnovice: Sep 2 2014, 11:37 AM

Massive intake fan. Wonder is that a low noice fan, TS?
Overall combo is pretty nice. Feel when TS sell your GC just for this mod.
Anyway, great mod. Keep it up!!!

like to see how it goes. good luck

where are the HDDs?

Hi, they are mid-speed fans. I'll need a fan controller later although their full speed are not so loud. About the graphic card, I've sold it because planning to upgrade it a bit. Don't know yet which one to take. Thanks brother for your compliment

Thanks fren.

Hi, planning to place Lian Li's original hard drive cage in front of rear fan but it need to tolerate the space with the pump as well. I hope everything will go fine later

wahhhh..jaw dropping.. mind share what tools you use sir?

Hi, I used router, dremel, hand saw & other generic modding tools.

moaarrr!! moaarr!!

Hi, sorry for the long silence. Hardly had time to mod nowadays. Here is a little update.


The pump with top I'm gonna use. Fixed speed D5 with Koolance COV-RP450


The pump will be mounted directly to the radiator plate using a custom made mounting with vibration dumping rubber


The pump placement for ease of maintenance work


Some fittings installed


Featuring Bitspower Water Tank-Z 250. Poor man's plumbing work with lack of fittings & adapters. No luck in finding Bitspower extender


Outlook testing

That's all for this update. I'll keep this updated if there is any development in future. Cheers.

waiting for final update from TS

Hi. It's been a really long time without update. A wish to make a very small update here to prevent myself from reaching a-year-without-update mark. Looks like also I've lost in my own thread.


Found these at hardware shop & I'll be using them as case feet. Made of rubber


Drilled holes at the base of chassis to fix it


I've made this to hold motherboard's cable behind the tray


Secured it in place

Planning to finish this project as soon as possible as I have another project in mind. I'll update again if I have any new progress. Thanks for reading.

Keep it up TS cant wait to see it completed

keep it up TS. Wanna see the final pic of the build.

Thx brother for your support

The case with its 'shoes'


These are mounting rubber included with other chassis I bought recently. Going to use it for mounting my SSD


Drilled holes at the motherboard tray and put the rubber thingy


SSD installed


Small update made to the cooling engine if you notice it


I made this simple terminal board to drive all those Sanyo fans with 5V to keep them silent


Found this at Daiso recently


Used it as intake filter for radiator


I hope this will be just a temporary solution. I'll be making a proper air filter in future if time permits

The CPU water block seated on top of Intel Xeon E5 2660 Sandy Bridge -EP


The motherboard. Rampage IV Gene


This is nothing much. Just the view of the chassis with motherboard installation. View 1


View 2. Pretty ugly at the bottom


View 3


View with cooling components in


View at the other side


Rear view


Top view


My plan for the hole on the left hand side is for filling the coolant

I've got a brand new idea for controlling fan by utilizing motherboard's PWM signal - using Arduino DC motor driver board. The board has been properly mounted & hooked up


I've made a mounting bracket for another board for controlling other 2 fans. Should looks better with shorter stands off but that's all I have at the moment


Small modification to the board for ease of plug/unplug


There it goes. Mounted securely & wired


Tiny PWM splitter


I changed my PSU. 850W semi modular for more juice & better flexibility


GTX 760 now with GTX 670 water block

In midst of hooking up everything now for the 1st run to see if second radiator is necessary. Thanks for reading

OMG, lucky to come across you bro, TS are very creative and inspiring. wish can make build like this in the future, need to learn a lot. TQ TS!